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THE  LIBRARY 

OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

AND  THE 

LONDON  PUNCH 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

AND   THE 

LONDON    PUNCH 


CARTOONS,  COMMENTS   AND   POEMS,  PUBLISHED 

IN  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI,  DURING  THE 

AMERICAN    CIVIL    WAR    (1861-1865) 


EDITED   BY 

WILLIAM  S.  WALSH 

Author  of  "A  Handbook  of  Literary  Curiosities,"  "Curiosities  of 
Popular  Customs,"  "Faust,  the  Legend  and  the  Poem,"  etc. 


NEW  YORK 

MOFFAT,  YARD  AND  COMPANY 
1909 


Copyright  1909,  by 
WILLIAM  S.  WALSH 

New  York 
Published  March  1909 


LIST  OP  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Tlie  American  Juggernaut  .  Frontispiece 

Divorce  A  Vinculo          ...  .13 

The  American  Difficulty      .  .     15 

-   The  American  Gladiators          .            .            .            .  17 

c3    Naughty  Jonathan    .  19 

§    How  they  went  to  take  Canada  21 

A  Family  Quarrel     .                                                .  .     23 

5    King  Cotton  Bound        .                        ...  25 

The  Genu-ine  Othello          .            .            .            .  .27 

^    Over  the  Way      .                        ....  29 

^    The  Wilful  Boy  .     31 

g   A  Likely  Story     .  33 

Look  out  for  Squalls  .     35 

A  Bad  Case  of  Throwing  Stones         ...  37 

Waiting  for  an  Answer         .            .            .            .  .39 

Columbia's  Fix    .            .            .            .            .            .  41 

Boxing  Day    .                                 -  .     ,,                  .  .43 

"Up  a  Tree"       .                                                            .  45 

Naughty  Jonathan           ,     .                                    .  .47 

Oberon  and  Titania       .  49 

The  New  Orleans  Plume     .            .            .            .  .51 

The  "Sensation"  Struggle  in  America            .            .  53 

The  Latest  from  America    .            .            .            .  .55 

One  Good  Turn  Deserves  Another     ...  57 

"Not  up  to  Time"  .                       .            .   '  .59 


654622 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Lincoln's  Two  Difficulties         ....  61 

More  Free  than  Welcome   .  .  .  '.  .63 

The  Overdue  Bill  .  .  .  .  .  65 

Abe  Lincoln's  Last  Card     .  .  .  .  .67 

Latest  from  Spirit-Land  ....  69 

Scene  from  the  American  "Tempest"      .  .  .71 

"Beware"  .  ....  73 

The  Great  "Cannon  Game"  .  .  .75 

"Rowdy"  Notions  of  Emancipation    ...  77 

Brutus  and  Caesar     .  .  ...     79 

The  Black  Conscription  ....  81 

John  Bull's  Neutrality 83 

Scylla  and  Charybdis 85 

The  Storm-Signal 87 

Extremes  Meet    .  .....  89 

"Beecher's  American  Soothing  Syrup"    .  .  .91 

"Holding  a  Candle  to  the  ****"        .  .  93 

Neutrality       .......     95 

Something  for  Paddy      .  .  .  .  97 

Very  Probable  .......     99 

Mrs.  North  and  her  Attorney  .  .  .  .         101 

Columbia's  Sewing-Machine  .  .  .  .103 

The  Black  Draft  ...         103 

The  Federal  Phcenix  .  .  .  .  .   105 

Grand  Transformation  Scene   .  .  .  .106 

The  Threatening  Notice      .  .  .  .  .107 

Vulcan  in  the  Sulks 108 

The  American  Gladiators — Habet!  .  .  .110 

Brittania  Sympathises  with  Columbia  .  .         Ill 

Peace  .  112 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

AND  THE 

LONDON  PUNCH 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

AND    THE 

LONDON  PUNCH 

'Tell  me  what  a  man  laughs  at,  and  I  will  tell 
you  what  he  is,"  was  one  of  Goethe's  pregnant  apo- 
thegms. 

Laughter,  one  of  the  chief  lines  of  cleavage 
between  man  and  beast,  is  one  of  the  chief  points 
of  differentiation  between  man  and  man.  From 
the  good-natured  banter  which  kins  all  the  world 
to  the  envenomed  sneer  that  sunders  it,  laughter 
runs  the  whole  gamut  of  human  emotions. 

It  is  always  sincere,  even  in  its  own  despite. 
No  subterfuge,  when  subterfuge  underlies  it,  is 
more  easily  unmasked.  A  man  may  smile  and 
smile  and  be  a  villain,  but  villainy  by  the  seeing 
eye  can  be  infallibly  detected  beneath  the  smile. 

A  counterfeit  laugh  may  be  uttered,  as  counter- 
feit coin  is  uttered,  but  it  does  not  ring  true.  Its 
baseness  reveals  itself  to  more  senses  than  one. 

Now  for  more  than  sixty  years  the  recognized 
organ  of  British  laughter  has  been  the  London 

ll 


12  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

Punch.  The  contemporary  mood  of  John  Bull 
towards  Brother  Jonathan  lias  always  voiced 
itself  through  the  grinning  lips  of  this  chartered 
jester. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  even  before  the  outbreak 
of  the  Civil  War  Punch  had  shown  itself  friendly 
to  America  or  Americans.  Why  should  it  ?  The 
British  mob  disliked  us  and  flouted  us.  Punch 
as  the  mouthpiece  of  the  mob,  followed  suit.  In 
the  original  prospectus  of  that  journal,  issued  in 
1845,  it  was  expressly  announced  that  the  paper 
was  to  be  devoted  in  part  to  "Yankee  yarns,"  to 
"the  naturalization  of  those  alien  Jonathans 
whose  adherence  to  the  truth  has  forced  them  to 
emigrate  from  their  native  land."  It  would  ap- 
pear from  this  new  crook-backed  Daniel  come 
to  judgment,  that  Ananias  and  Autolycus  were 
models  of  punctilious  honesty  and  meticulous 
truthfulness  compared  with  the  average  Ameri- 
can. 

Writing  from  Boston  to  Sir  Edward  Head,  in 
1854,  George  Ticknor  said:  "I  am  much  struck 
with  what  you  say  about  the  ignorance  that  pre- 
vails in  England,  concerning  this  country  and  its 
institutions,  and  the  mischief  likely  to  spring  from 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI— JANDART  If),  1861. 


DIVORCE   A   VINCULO. 

Mrs.  Carolina  Asserts  her  Right  to  "  Larrup  "  her  Nigger. 


14  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

it.  From  Punch  up  to  your  leading  statesmen, 
things  are  constantly  said  and  done  out  of  sheer 
misapprehension,  or  ignorance,  that  have  for 
some  time  been  breeding  ill-will  here,  and  are 
likely  to  breed  more." 

Up  to,  and  even  immediately  after  the  war, 
Punch's  sympathies  professedly  leaned  towards 
the  North,  though  it  took  occasion  to  lecture  both 
sides  from  the  standpoint  of  a  disinterested  and 
superior  friend,  who  saw  that  neither  side  was 
absolutely  and  unconditionally  right. 

When  the  news  of  the  secession  of  South  Caro- 
lina reached  England,  in  January,  1861,  John 
Tenniel  contributed  a  cartoon  to  the  jester's  pages 
entitled:  "Divorce  a  Vinculo"  with  the  explana- 
tory subtitle  "Mrs.  Carolina  asserts  her  rights  to 
6 larrup'  her  nigger."  Mrs.  Carolina  was  repre- 
sented as  a  vulgar  virago  holding  a  cat-o-nine  tails 
in  her  right  hand,  and  shaking  her  clenched  left 
fist  in  the  face  of  a  serenely  defiant  youth, 
clad  in  a  star-spangled  shirt,  to  whom  a 
little  brat  of  a  nigger  appealed  with  clasped 
hands. 

In  the  same  member  the  following  poem  breathed 
a  similar  anti-secession  sentiment. 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


15 


PUNCH,  OB  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI— MAT  11,  1861. 


THE   AMERICAN  DIFFICULTY. 

E.  "WHAT  A  NICE  WHITE  HOUSE  TIII3  WOULD  BE,  IP  IT  WERE  NOT  FOR  TflE  BLACK3!' 


16  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

SECESSION  AND  SLAVERY 

Secede,  ye  Southern  States,  secede, 

No    better  plan  could  be, 
If  you  of  niggers  would  be  freed, 

To  set  your  niggers  free. 
Runaway  slaves  by  federal  law 

At  present  you  reclaim; 
So  from  the  Union  straight  withdraw 

And  play  the  Free  Soil  game. 

What,  when  you've  once  the  knot  untied, 

Will  bind  the  Northern  men  ? 
And  who'll  resign  to  your  cow-hide 

The  fugitives  again  ? 
Absquatulate,  then,  slick  as  grease, 

And  break  up  unity, 
Or  take  your  president  in  peace 

And  eat  your  humble  pie. 

But  if  your  stomachs  proud  disdain 

That  salutary  meal 
And  you,  in  passion  worse  than  vain, 

Must  rend  the  commonweal, 
Then  all  mankind  will  jest  and  scoff 

At  people  in  the  case 
Of  him  that  hastily  cut  off 

His  nose  to  spite  his  face. 

Later,  Punch  applauded  that  portion  of  Abra- 
ham Lincoln's  first  inaugural,  which  dealt  with 
the  question  of  secession. 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


17 


PUNCH,  OK  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI.— MAT  18,  1861. 


"(LESAR    IMPERATOR!" 
THE    AMERICAN    GLADIATORS. 


18  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

THE  COMMINUTED  STATES 

WHO  can  say  where  Secession  will  stop  ?  That  is  a  ques- 
tion which  is  raised  by  MR.  LINCOLN,  in  a  part  of  his  inau- 
gural address,  directed  to  enforce  upon  fools  and  madmen 
the  necessity  of  acquiescence  by  minorities  in  the  decision 
of  majorities.  The  President  tells  the  frantic  portion  of  his 
fellow  countrymen  that: — 

"There  is  no  alternative  for  continuing  the  Government 
but  acquiescence  on  one  side  or  the  other.  If  a  minority 
in  such  a  case  will  secede  rather  than  acquiesce,  they 
make  a  precedent  which  in  turn  will  ruin  and  divide  them, 
for  a  minority  of  their  own  will  secede  from  them  whenever 
a  majority  refuses  to  be  controlled  by  such  a  minority.  For 
instance,  why  may  not  any  portion  of  a  new  confederacy,  a 
year  or  two  hence,  arbitrarily  secede  again,  precisely  as  por- 
tions of  the  present  Union  now  claim  to  secede  from  it? 
All  who  cherish  disunion  sentiments  are  now  being  educated 
to  the  exact  temper  of  doing  this." 

The  force  of  this  simple  reasoning  will  be  seen  by  the 
lunatics  to  whom  it  is  addressed,  during  their  lucid  intervals, 
if  they  have  any.  It  may  even  be  hoped  that  some  of  them 
may  recover  the  use  of  their  reflecting  faculties  so  far  as  to 
be  enabled  to  follow  out  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN'S  argument, 
and  their  own  folly,  into  ultimate  consequences  and  conclu- 
sions. Then  they  will  see  what  is  likely  to  be  the  end  of 
Secession,  for  it  is  not  quite  true  that  there  is  no  end  to 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


19 


20  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

Secession,  and  the  end  of  Secession  will  be  for  the  Seces- 
sionists an  end  of  everything.  Seceders  will  go  on  seceding 
and  subseceding,  until  at  last  every  citizen  will  secede  from 
every  other  citizen,  and  each  individual  will  be  a;  sovereign 
state  in  himself,  self-government  personified,  a  walking 
autonomy,  a  lone  star,  doing  business  and  supporting  itself 
off  its  own  hook. 

When  the  seceding  states  were  in  search  of  a 
name,  Punch  suggested  that  of  Slaveownia,  and 
when  at  the  convention  held  February  9,  1861, 
at  Montgomery,  Alabama,  they  adopted  the  title  of 
the  Confederate  States  of  America,  Punch  re- 
opened his  battery  in  this  fashion: 

"The  Southern  Secessionists  must  be  admitted  to  be 
blessed  with  at  least  the  philosophical  virtue  of  self-know- 
ledge. They  term  this  new  league  the  'Confederate  States 
of  America':  thus  they  call  themselves  by  what  they  doubt- 
less feel  to  be  their  right  name.  They  are  confederates  in 
the  crime  of  upholding  slavery.  A  correct  estimate  of  their 
moral  position  is  manifest  in  that  distinctive  denomination 
of  theirs,  'Confederate  States.'  This  title  is  a  beautiful 
antithesis  to  that  of  the  United  States  of  America.  The 
more  doggedly  confederate  slave  mongers  combine,  the  more 
firmly  good  republicans  should  unite." 

Once   more   when   reviewing    Jefferson   Davis' 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


2%  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

message  to  the  Confederate  Congress,  Punch 
recognized  that  slavery  was  really  the  bone  of 
contention  between  the  two  sections: 

THE  JUST  AND  HOLY  CAUSE  OF  SLAVERY 


feel,"  says  PRESIDENT  JEFFERSON  DAVIS,  in  his 
Message  to  the  Secessional  Congress,  "that  our  cause  is 
just  and  holy."  Could  not  the  negroes  of  the  Southern 
States,  if  they  rose  against  their  masters,  say  just  as  much, 
with  at  least  equal  justice,  for  their  own  insurrection  ?  The 
less  MR  DAVIS  says  about  justice  and  holiness  the  better, 
if  he  does  not  want  to  preach  a  dangerous  doctrine,  besides 
being  considered  a  humbug.  "Dash  holiness,  and  justice 
be  blanked  !"  is  the  consistent  language  for  MR.  JEFFERSON 
DAVIS.  "Might  is  right;  we  expect  to  thrash  the  Northern- 
ers; and  the  Institution  of  Slavery  for  ever!" 

Again,  when  General  Beauregard  declared  in  a 
proclamation  to  the  South  that  "unborn  genera- 
tions would  arise  and  call  them  blessed,"  Punch 
declared  that  the  reporters,  with  their  proverbial 
inaccuracy,  had  omitted  the  concluding  word 
"rascals." 

Yet  even  now,  it  appealed  to  both  sections  to 
restrain  their  hands  from  flying  at  each  other's 
throats  : 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


24  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

ODE  TO  THE  NORTH  AND  SOUTH 

0  JONATHAN  and  JEFFERSON, 
Come  listen  to  my  song; 

1  can't  decide,  my  word  upon, 
Which  of  you  is  most  wrong. 

I  do  declare  I  am  afraid 
To  say  which  worse  behaves, 

The  North,  imposing  bonds  on  Trade, 
Or  South,  that  Man  enslaves. 

And  here  you  are  about  to  fight, 

And  wage  intestine  war, 
Not  either  of  you  in  the  right: 

What  simpletons  you  are! 
Too  late  your  madness  you  will  see, 

And  when  your  passion  cools, 
"Snakes!"  you  will  bellow,  "How  could  we 

Have  been  such  'tarnal  fools!" 

One  thing  is  certain;  that  if  you 

Blow  out  each  other's  brains, 
'Twill  be  apparent  what  a  few 

Each  blockhead's  skull  contains. 
You'll  have  just  nothing  for  your  cost, 

To  show,  when  all  is  done. 
Greatness  and  glory  you'll  have  lost; 

And  not  a  dollar  won. 

Oh,  joined  to  us  by  blood,  and  by 
The  bond  of  kindred  speech, 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARL— NOVEMBER  2,  1861. 


KING    COTTON    BOUND; 

Or,  The  Modem  Prometheus. 


26  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

And  further,  by  the  special  tie 

Of  slang,  bound  each  to  each, 
All-fired  gonies,  sof thorn 'd  pair, 

Each  other  will  you  lick  ? 
You  everlastin'  dolts,  forbear! 

Throw  down  your  arms  right  slick. 

You'll  chaw  each  other  up,  you  two, 

Like  those  Kilkenny  cats, 
When  they  had  better  things  to  do, 

Improvin'  off  the  rats. 
Now  come,  shake  hands,  together  jog 

On  friendly  yet  once  more; 
Whip  one  another  not:  and  flog 

Creation,  as  before! 

Still  again,  Punch  showed  good  feeling  in  ad- 
monishing Lord  Palmerston,  after  firing  on  Sum- 
ter,  to  keep  Great  Britain  neutral. 

"Well  Pam,"  says  Mr.  Punch  to  his  workman, 
"of  course  I  shall  keep  you  on,  but  you  must  stick 
to  peace-work." 

Nor  could  the  North  object  to  the  cartoon,  in 
May,  1861,  in  which  Lincoln  made  his  first  ap- 
pearance in  Punch.  The  face,  faithfully  limned  from 
the  early  beardless  photographs,  represented  him 
as  a  man  of  clean-cut  intelligent  features, — in 
marked  contrast  to  the  bearded  ruffian,  a  repul- 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


28  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

sive  compound  of  malice,  vulgarity  and  cunning 
which  John  TenniePs  pencil  subsequently  de- 
lighted to  give  to  the  world  as  a  counterfeit  pre- 
sentment of  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

In  this  first  picture  Lincoln  is  represented  as 
poking  the  fire  and  filling  the  room  with  par- 
ticles of  soot,  saying  with  downcast  look: 

"What  a  nice  White  House  it  would  be,  if  it 
were  not  for  the  blacks." 

Nevertheless,  the  poem  with  which  Punch 
greeted  the  news  of  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter  was  not 
calculated  to  arouse  kindly  sentiments  in  the 
North. 

INK,  BLOOD  AND   TEA'RS 
(THE  TAKING  OF  FORT  SUMTER.) 

A  FORTY  hours'  bombardment!     Great  guns  throwing 
Their  iron  hail:  shells  their  mad  mines  exploding: 

Furnaces  lighted:  shot  at  red-heat  glowing: 

Shore-battr'ies  and  fort- armament,  firing,  loading — 

War's  visible  hell  let  loose  for  forty  hours, 

And  all  her  devils  free  to  use  their  powers — 

And  yet  not  one  man  hit,  her  flag  when  Sumter  lowers. 

"Oh,  here's  a  theme!"  quoth  Punch,  of  brag  abhorrent, 
"'Twixt  promise  and  performance  rare  proportion! 

This  show-cloth,  of  live  lions,  giving  warrant, 
Masking  some  mangy,  stunted,  stuffed  abortion: 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


30  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

These  gorgeous  covers  hiding  empty  dishes, 
These  whale-like  antics  among  little  fishes — 
Here  is  the  very  stuff  to  meet  my  dearest  wishes. 

What  ringing  of  each  change  on  brag  and  bluster! 

These  figures  huge  of  speech,  summed  in  a  zero: 
This  war-march,  ushering  in  Bombastes'  muster: 

This  entry  of  Tom  Thumb,  armed  like  a  hero. 
Of  all  great  cries  e'er  raised  o'er  little  wool, 
Of  all  big  bubbles  by  fools'  breath  filled  full, 
Sure  here's  the  greatest  yet,  and  emptiest,  for  JOHN  BULL' 

JOHN  always  thought  JONATHAN,  his  young  brother, 

A  little  of  a  bully;  said  he  swaggered: 
But  in  all  change  of  chaff  with  one  another, 

Nor  JOHN  nor  JONATHAN  was  e'er  called  'laggard/ 
But  now,  if  JOHN  mayn't  JONATHAN  style  'coward,' 
He  may  hint  Stripes  and  Stars  were  better  lowered 
From  that  tall  height  to  which,  till  now,  their  flag-staff 
towered." 

Punch  nibbed  his  pen,  all  jubilant,  for  galling — 

When  suddenly  a  weight  weighed  down  the  feather, 

And  a  red  liquid,  drop  by  drop,  slow  falling, 

Came  from  the  nib;  and  the  drops  rolled  together, 

And  steamed  and  smoked  and  sung — "Not  ink,  but  blood; 

Drops  now,  but  soon  to  swell  into  a  flood, 

Perchance  e'er  Summer's  leaf  has  burst  Spring's  guarding  bud. 

Blood  by  a  brother's  hand  drawn  from  a  brother — 
And  they  by  whom  'tis  ta'en,  by  whom  'tis  given, 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


31 


PUNCH!  PR  THE  LONDON  £HARIVARL— NOVMBER  23,  1861. 


THE    WILFUL    BOY. 

JONATUAV.  "1  WILL  FIGIIT-I  WILL  HAVE  A  NATIONAL  DEBT  LTKK  OTHER  PEOPLU 


32  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

Are  both  the  children  of  an  English  mother; 

Once  with  that  mother,  in  her  wrath,  they've  striven: 
Was't  not  enough,  that  parricidal  jar, 
But  they  must  now  meet  in  fraternal  war  ? 
If  such  strife  draw  no  blood  shall  England  scoff  therefore  ? 

If  she  will  laugh,  through  thee,  her  chartered  wit, 

Use  thou  no  ink  wherewith  to  pen  thy  scoff: 
We'll  find  a  liquor  for  thy  pen  more  fit— 

We  blood  drops — see  how  smartly  thou 'It  round  off 
Point,  pun  and  paragraph  in  this  new  way: 
Till  men  shall  read  and  laugh,  and,  laughing,  say, 
'Well  thrust!     Punch  is  in  vein:  'tis  his  red-letter  day."3 

The  weight  sat  on  my  quill:  I  could  not  write; 

The  red  drops  lustered  to  my  pen — in  vain; 
I  had  my  theme — •"  Brothers  that  meet  in  fight, 

Yet  shed  no  blood!" — my  jesting  mood  turned  pain. 
I  thought  of  all  that  civil  love  endears, 
That  civil  strife  breaks  up  and  rends  and  sears, 
And  lo!  the  blood-drops  in  my  pen  were  changed  to  tears' 

And  for  the  hoarse  tongues  that  those  bloody  gouts 
Had  found,  or  seemed  to  find,  upon  my  ears 

Came  up  a  gentle  song  in  linked  bouts, 

Of  long-drawn  sweetness — pity  breathed  through  tears. 

And  thus  they  sang—"  'Twas  not  by  chance, 

Still  less  by  fraud  or  fear, 
That  Sumter's  battle  came  and  closed, 

Nor  cost  the  world  a  tear." 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


34  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

It  was  the  Southern  victory  of  Bull  Run  and  the 
Northern  policy  of  blockade  that  finally  and  de- 
finitely changed  the  attitude  of  England  and  of 
Punch.  The  victory  gave  hopes  that  the  Con- 
federates might  be  successful  in  overturning  a 
hated  and  dreaded  republic;  the  blockade  aroused 
fears  that  the  pocket  of  the  British  manufacturer 
might  be  damaged.  All  pretence  of  love  for  the 
negro  was  swallowed  up  by  these  more 'potent  and 
more  personal  emotions. 

On  November  2,  1861,  in  a  cartoon  and  an 
accompanying  poem  Punch  sought  to  put  its  com- 
mercial anxiety  on  an  altruistic  plane.  Here 
is  the  poem: 

KING  COTTON  BOUND;  OR,  THE  NEW 
PROMETHEUS. 

FAR  across  Atlantic  waters 

Groans  in  chains  a  Giant  King; 

Like  to  him,  whom  Ocean's  daughters 
Wail  around  in  mournful  ring, 

In  the  grand  old  Grecian  strains 

Of  PROMETHEUS  in  his  chains! 

Needs  but  Fancy's  pencil  pliant 
Both  to  paint  till  both  agree; 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


35 


PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI.—  DECEMBER  7,  1861. 


LOOK    OUT    FOR    SQUALLS. 

JACK  BULL.  "YOU  DO  WHAT'S  RIGHT,  MY  SON,  OR  I'LL  BLOW  YOU  OUT  OF  THE  WATER." 


36  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

For  King  Cotton  is  a  giant, 

As  PROMETHEUS  claimed  to  be. 
Each  gave  blessings  unto  men, 
Each  dishonour  reaped  again. 

From  the  gods  to  sons  of  clay 

If  PROMETHEUS  brought  the  flame, 

Who  King  Cotton  can  gainsay, 
Should  he  equal  honour  claim  ? 

Fire  and  life  to  millions  giving, 

That,  without  him,  had  no  living. 

And  if  they  are  one  in  blessing, 

So  in  suffering  they  are  one; 
Both,  their  captive  state  confessing, 

Freeze  in  frost  and  scorch  in  sun: 
That,  upon  his  mountain  chain, 
This,  upon  his  parching  plain. 

Nor  the  wild  bird's  self  is  wanting — 

Either  giant's  torment  sore; 
If  PROMETHEUS  writhed,  while  panting 

Heart  and  lungs  the  vulture  tore, 
So  Columbia's  eagle  fierce, 
Doth  King  Cotton's  vitals  pierce. 

On  those  wings  so  widely  sweeping 

In  its  poise  the  bird  to  keep, 
See,  if  you  can  see  for  weeping. 

"North"  and  "South"  are  branded  deep— 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


57 


o 


38  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

On  the  beak  all  reeking  red, 
On  the  talons  blood- bespread ! 

But  'tis  not  so  much  the  anguish 
Of  the  wound  that  rends  his  side, 

Makes  this  fettered  giant  languish, 
As  the  thought  how  once,  in  pride, 

That  great  eagle  took  its  stand, 

Gently  on  his  giant  hand ! 

How  to  it  the  meat  he'd  carry 
In  its  mew  to  feed  secure; 

How  he'd  fling  it  on  the  quarry, 
How  recall  it  to  the  lure, 

Make  it  stoop,  to  his  caresses, 

Hooded  neck  and  jingling  jesses. 

And  another  thought  is  pressing, 
Like  hot  iron  on  his  brain — 

Millions  that  would  fain  be  blessing, 
Ban,  e'en  now,  King  Cotton's  name. 

Oh,  that  here  those  hands  are  bound, 

Which  should  scatter  wealth  around! 

"Not  this  Eagle's  screaming  smothers 
That  sad  sound  across  the  sea — 

Wailing  babes  and  weeping  mothers, 
Wailing,  weeping,  wanting  me. 

Hands  that  I  would  fain  employ, 

Hearts  that  I  would  fill  with  joy! 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH  39 


PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI.— DECEMBER  14,  1861. 


WAITING  FOR  AN  ANSWER. 


40  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

"I  must  writhe — a  giant  fettered, — 
While  those  millions  peak  and  pine; 

By  my  wealth  their  lot  unbettered, 
And  their  suffering  worse  than  mine. 

For  they  know  that  I  would  fain 

Help  their  need,  were't  not  my  chain! 

"But  /  know  not  where  to  turn  me 
For  relief  from  bonds  and  woe; 

Frosts  may  pinch  and  suns  may  burn  me, 
But  for  rescue — none  I  know, 

Save  the  millions  I  have  fed, 

Should  they  rise  for  lack  of  bread — 

"Saying,  'We  will  brook  no  longer, 
That  King  Cotton  bound  should  be: 

Be  his  gaolers  strong,  we're  stronger, 
In  our  hunger  o'er  sea — 

More  for  want,  than  love,  uprisen, 

We  are  come  to  break  his  prison!' 

"Welcome  even  such  releasing, 

Fain  my  work  I'd  be  about: 
Soon  would  want  and  wail  be  ceasing, 

Were  King  Cotton  once  let  out — 
Though  all  torn  and  faint  and  bleeding, 
Millions  still  I've  strength  for  feeding." 

Then  came  an  episode  which  did  for  the  moment 
set  John  Bull  and  Punch  on  a  nobler  basis.     All 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


41 


PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI.— DECEMBER  28,  1861. 


COLUMBIA'S    FIX. 


COLUMBIA.   "WHICH   ANSWER   SHALL    I  SEND?' 


42  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

during  the  Trent  affair — when  the  United  States 
was  obviously  wrong  in  arresting  the  Confederate 
Commissioners,  Mason  and  Slidell,  on  board  an 
English  ship — the  Tenniel  cartoons  rose  to  the 
higher  level  of  just  indignation. 

Even  now,  however,  Punch  was  unable  or  un- 
willing to  see  the  magnanimity  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln's apology  for  an  error  not  his  own. 

This  was  all  the  more  unjust  because  Punch  was 
both  able  and  willing  to  discriminate  between  the 
level-headed  men  of  the  North  and  the  jingoes, 
as  this  extract  will  show. 

OUR  DEAR  BROTHER  JONATHAN 

THIS  delightful  ebullition  of  fervent  brotherly  love  has 
most  fittingly  appeared  in  a  Philadelphia  paper: — 

"It  may  be,  in  view  of  all  these  grave  considerations  and 
the  sad  necessities  of  the  case,  that,  in  order  to  avoid  a  war 
which  could  only  end  in  our  discomfiture,  the  Administra- 
tion may  be  compelled  to  concede  the  demands  of  England, 
and  perhaps  release  MESSRS.  MASON  and  SLIDELL.  God 
forbid ! — but  in  a  crisis  like  this  we  must  adapt  ourselves  to 
stern  circumstances,  and  yield  every  feeling  of  pride  to  main- 
tain our  existence.  If  this  contingency  should  ever  arise — 
and  I  am  only  speculating  upon  a  disagreeable  possibility — 
then  let  us  swear,  not  only  to  ourselves  but  our  children 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


44  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

who  come  after  us,  to  repay  this  greedy,  insolent,  and  coward- 
ly Power  with  the  retribution  of  a  just  and  fearful  vengeance. 
If  England  in  our  time  of  distress  makes  herself  our  foe,  and 
offers  to  be  our  assassin,  we  will  treat  her  as  a  foe  when  we 
can  do  so  untrammeled  and  unmenaced  by  another  enemy." 

"Greedy,  insolent,  and  cowardly,"  these  are  nice  fraternal 
terms;  and  what  a  truly  loving  spirit  is  evinced  by  swearing 
"fearful  vengeance"  upon  the  "assassin,"  and  handing 
to  posterity  the  keeping  of  the  oath! 

No  whit  less  affectionate  in  feeling  is  what  follows: — 

"If  we  do  concede  the  demands  of  England,  however,  it 
will  only  be  because  we  desire  to  crush  this  rebellion,  as  a 
duty  we  owe  to  mankind.  It  will  be  because  we  prefer  to 
master  the  great  evil,  and  do  not  wish  to  be  alienated  from 
our  duty  by  an  international  and  comparatively  unimportant 
quarrel;  it  will  be  because  we  prefer  national  salvation  to 
the  gratification  of  any  feeling  of  national  pride.  It  will  be 
a  great  act  of  self-denial.  But  when  we  come  from  this  re- 
bellion it  will  be  with  a  magnificent  army,  educated  and  or- 
ganised, and  with  the  sense  of  this  wrong  weighing  upon 
them.  It  will  he  with  a  navy  competent  to  meet  any  navy 
upon  the  globe.  It  will  be  for  us  then  to  remember  how 
England  was  our  enemy  in  the  day  of  our  misfortune,  and 
to  make  that  remembrance  a  dark  and  fearful  page  of  her 
history,  and  an  eternal  memory  of  our  own." 

That  these  are  the  opinions  of  most  people  in  America 
nobody  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  will  believe.  But  that 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


45 


PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVAEL— JANUARY  11,  1862. 


UP   A   TREE." 

Colonel  Bull  and  the  Yankee   'Coon. 

'Coo».  "AIR  YOU  IN  ARNEST,  COLONEL?" 

COLONEL  Biai.  "I   AM." 

-COON.   "DON'T  HRE-I'LL   COME   DOWN." 


46  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

there  are  roughs  and  rowdies  in  the  States,  who  as  they  have 
nothing  they  can  lose  by  war  are  always  full  of  bluster  and 
warlike  in  their  talk,  this  may  any  one  in  England  very  easily 
conceive.  Of  course  it  is  to  please  them  that  such  stuff  as  we 
have  quoted  is  stuck  in  Yankee  newspapers;  and  our  sole 
surprise  is  that  the  journals  which  admit  it  find  it  pays  them 
so  to  do.  The  rowdies  as  a  rule  are  not  overflushed  with 
wealth  and  can  ill  afford  to  spend  their  coppers  upon  liter- 
ature, which,  the  chances  are,  they  scarcely  would  know 
how  to  read. 

For  the  benefit  of  the  American  jingoes  Punch 
on  December  7th,  issued  the  following  warning, 
with  an  appropriate  cartoon: 

A  WARNING  TO  JONATHAN; 

OR,  "DOTH  HE  WAG  HIS  TAIL?" 

JONATHAN,   JONATHAN,   'ware  of  the  Lion: 
He's  patient,  he's  placable,  slow  to  take  fire: 

There  are  tricks  which  in  safety  a  puppy  might  try  on, 
But  from  dogs  of  his  own  size  they  waken  his  ire. 

With  your  bounce  and  your  bunkum  you've  pelted  him  often, 
Good  humoured  he  laughed  as  the  missiles  flew  by, 

Hard  words  you've  employed,  which  he  ne'er  bid  you  soften, 
As  knowing  your  tallest  of  talk  all  my  eye. 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


48  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

When  you  blustered  he  still  was  content  with  pooh-poohing, 
When  you  flared  up  he  just  let  the  shavings  burn  out : 

He  knew  you  were  fonder  of  talking  than  doing, 
And  Lions  for  trifles  don't  put  themselves  out. 

But  beware  how  you  tempt  even  leonine  patience, 
Or  presume  the  old  strength  has  forsaken  his  paw: 

He's  proud  to  admit  you  and  he  are  relations, 
But  even  relations  may  take  too  much  law. 

If  there's  one  thing  he  values,  'tis  right  of  asylum; 

Safe  who  rests  'neath  the  guard  of  the  Lion  must  be: 
In  that  shelter  the  hard-hunted  fugitive  whilome 

Must  be  able  to  sleep  the  deep  sleep  of  the  free. 

Then  think  twice,  and  think  well,  ere  from  guard  of  the  Lion 
Those  who  seek  his  protection  you  try  to  withdraw: 

Though  STOWELL  and  WHEATEN  and  KENT  you  rely  on, 
There  are  points  on  which  Lions  won't  listen  to  jaw. 

Remember  in  time  the  old  tale  of  the  showman, 

Who  his  head  in  the  mouth  of  the  Lion  would  sheath, 

Till  with  lengthened  impunity,  bold  as  a  Roman, 
He  seemed  to  forget  that  the  Lion  had  teeth. 

But  the  time  came  at  last,  when  all  risks  madly  scorning, 
He  went  just  too  far  down  that  road  rough  and  red, 

When,  with  only  one  wag  of  his  tail  for  a  warning, 
Snap  went  Leo's  jaws,  and  off  went  BARNUM'S  head! 

This  was  followed  up  on  December  14th,  with  one 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


49 


PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI.— APRIL  5,  18C2. 


^/A<lc!fe>, 
OBERON    AND   TITANIA. 

OBEHON  (Mil  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN)   "  I  DO  BUT  BEG  A  LITTLE  NIGGER  BOY, 

TO  BE  MY   HENCHMAN." 
TITANIA  (Miss  VIBOINU)   "  SET  YOUR  HEART  AT  REST, 

THE  NORTHERN  LAND  BUYS  NOT  THE  CHILD  01?  M-E." 


50  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

of  Tenniel's  finest  cartoons,  that  entitled  "Waiting 
for  an  Answer." 

Two  amusing  bits  of  doggerel  appeared  in  the 
same  number,  one  representing  the  British  nation's 
view  of  the  international  episode. 

MRS.  BURDEN  ON  THE  AMERICAN 
DIFFICULTY 

"THEM  there  nasty  good-for-nothing  Yankees!"  cried  old 
MRS.  DURDEN, 

"Worrits  me  to  that  degree,  it  makes  my  life  almost  a  burden. 

Board  our  mail  and  seize  our  passengers,  the  ribbles!  Good- 
ness, gracious! 

Like  their  imperence  to  be  sure;  'tis  that  what  makes  'em 
so  owdacious. 

"What  next  now  I  wonder,  Captain?"       Answer  CAPTAIN 

SKIPPER  made, 
"Well  Ma'am,  our  next  move,  I  fancy,  will  be  breaking  their 

blockade." 
"Blockhead!  Ah!"  exclaimed  the  lady.     "Truer  word  was 

never  spoken. 
Drat  the  blockheads,  all  says  I;  may  every  head  on  'em  be 

broken!" 

The  other  is  a  bit  of  broad  fun,  in  mockery  of 
the  profuse  volumes  of  smoke  and  sound  which 
were  emitted  by  Yankee  fire-eaters. 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


51 


PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI— MAY  24,  1862. 


THE   NEW   ORLEANS   PLUM. 


BIG  LINCOLN  HORNER, 
UP  IN  A  CORNER, 
THINKING  OF  HUMBLE  PIE; 


FOUND  UNDER  HIS  THUMB, 

A  NEW  ORLEANS  PLUM, 

AND  SAID,  WHAT  A  'CUTE  YANKEE  AM  I! 


52  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

A  VOICE  FROM  WASHINGTON 

From  our  Special  Correspondent 

WE  Yankees  ain't  given  to  brag; 

JOHN  BULL,  we   expect,  has  no  notion 
Of  going  to  war;  but  his  flag 

If  he  does,  we  shall  sweep  from  the  ocean 
And  when  the  old  vagabond  lies 

In  a  state  of  teetotal  prostration, 
Old  Ireland  in  glory  will  rise, 

Independence  to  win  as  a  nation. 

Our  breadstuffs  from  England  kept  back, 

The  sequel  must  be  destitution. 
Her  famishing  millions,  in  lack 

Of  food,  will  force  on  revolution. 
VICTORIA  will  have  to  retire; 

Aristocracy,  friends  of  Secession, 
Will  be  hurled  down,  and  trod  in  the  mire; 

No  more  for  to  practise  oppression. 

Rebellion  we'll  bring  to  an  end, 

The  slaves  'mongst  our  heroes  dividing, 
Or  arms  to  the  niggers  we'll  lend, 

To  give  their  darned  masters  a  hiding. 
Work  up  all  our*  cotton  at  home, 

Let  not  one  more  bale  be  exported, 
Have  the  world  at  our  feet,  like  old  Rome, 

By  the  kings  of  the  airth  as  was  courted. 

Want  money?     I  reckon  not  we; 
A  national  debt  we'll  create, 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHAEIVARL— JDNE  7,  1862. 


THE  "SENSATION"   STRUGGLE    IN  AMERICA. 


54  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

Twice  as  heavy  as  yourn,  which  will  be, 
For  SAMSONS  like  we  air,  no  weight. 

On  Government  bonds  we  shall  borrow 
Any  money  in  Europe  with  ease. 

Why  London  and  Paris,  to-morrow 
Will  lend  us  as  much  as  we  please. 

Foreign  goods  we  shall  purchase  with  paper, 

Which  let  foreign  usurers  hold; 
The  British  may  swagger  and  vapour, 

At  home  whilst  we  keep  all  our  gold. 
As  BELMONT  to  SEWARD  has  written, 

Any  stock  may  in  Europe  be  "placed," 
And  the  chance,  if  the  ROTHSCHILDS  ain't  bitten, 

Will  be  by  the  BARINGS  embraced. 

We've  twice  before  whipped  all  creation, 

We've  now  got  to  whip  it  again. 
We  air  a  remarkable  nation 

Of  modest,  but  resolute  men. 
JOHN  BULL,  then,  allow  us  to  kick  you, 

And  don't  go  resenting  the  act, 
Or  into  a  cocked  hat  we'll  lick  you, 

Yes,  Sir-ree,  you  old  hoss,  that's  a  fact. 

The  manly  and  tactful  apology  which  repre- 
sented the  feeling  of  the  better  sort  of  folk  in  Am- 
erica, and  which  was  wrung  from  a  reluctant 
cabinet  by  Abraham  Lincoln,  softened  for  a  mo- 
ment the  asperity  of  our  old  antagonist.  The 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


55 


PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI.— JULY  20,  1862. 


THE  LATEST  FROM  AMERICA; 

Or,  the  New  York  "Eye-Duster,"  to  be  taken  Every  Day. 


56  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

following  rather  amiable  verses  were  written  in 
anticipation  of  the  amicable  settlement  which 
already  (January  11,  1862),  seemed  probable: 

A  FAIR  OFFER  FROM  JOHN  BULL  TO  MISS 
COLUMBIA 

SHALL  we  kiss  and  be  friends  ?    Why  not  ?     Sister  COLUMBIA, 

No  more  ugly  faces  let  you  and  me  pull; 
Though  we  both  have  our  tempers,  our  worries  and  troubles, 

Let  "bygones  be  bygones"  for  me,  says  JOHN  BULL. 

You  must  own  that  you've  given  me  a  deal  of  bad  language, 
And  have  been  far  too  free  with  your  bunkum  and  brag; 

That  I'll  pocket,  if  now,  like  a  sensible  woman, 
You'll  disclaim  your  friend  WILKES,  and  salute  the  old  flag. 

Fools  may  sneer  and  call  family  feelings  all  humbug, 
But  I  feel  that  one  blood  in  the  veins  of  us  flows  : 

Our  tongues  are  the  same,  though  I  don't  like  your  fashion 
Of  talking,  (as  you'd  make  me  pay)  through  the  nose. 

We  snarled  and  we  scratched,  in  the  days  of  our  folly, 
When  you  wanted  to  leave  me  and  start  for  yourself; 

To  think  of  those  times  makes  me  quite  melancholy — 
The  blood  that  we  wasted — the  temper  and  pelf! 

When  I  vowed  that  I'd  tame  you,  and  make  you  knock 

under, 
And  you  dared  me  and  bit,  like  a  vixen  as  well; 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI.— AUGUST  9,  1862. 


ONE  GOOD  TURN  DESERVES  ANOTHER. 

Ou>  ABI.  "WHY  I  DU  DECLARE  IT'S  MY  DEAR  OLD  FRIEND  SAMBO  1   COURSE  YOU'LL  FIGHT  FOR 
US.  SAMBO.   LEND  US  A  HAND,  OLD  HOSS,  DU!" 


58  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

I  did  think  by  this  time  we  had  both  seen  our  blunder; 
Meant  to  live  as  good  friends  and  in  peace  buy  and  sell. 

But  of  late  I  can't  think  what  the  deuce  has  come  o'er  you : 
First,  you  turn  your  own  house  out  of  window,  and  then, 

Declare  that  /  want  to  o'erreach  you  and  floor  you, 
Stop  my  ships,  seize  my  passengers,  bully  my  men ! 

I  can  stand  a  great  deal  from  my  own  blood-relations, 
And  I  know  that  your  troubles  your  temper  have  soured; 

But  I  can't  take  a  blow,  in  the  face  of  all  nations, 
And  consent  to  see  law  by  brute  force  overpowered. 

Only  own  your  friend  WILKES  is  a  blundering  bully, 
And  make  over  MASON  arid  SLIDELL  to  me, 

And  all  that  is  past,  I'll  condone,  fair  and  fully, 
Kiss  you  now,  and  in  future,  I  do  hope,  agree! 

Yet  Lincoln,  the  peacemaker  of  the  occasion, 
got  little  credit  from  Punch,  which,  indeed,  began 
now  to  pursue  him  with  unremitting  invective. 

The  gorilla-like  caricature  of  Lincoln's  features 
makes  its  first  appearance  in  a  cartoon  wherein 
this  repulsive  face  is  joined  to  a  raccoon's 
body. 

The  "coon"  is  shown  up  a  tree,  Colonel  Bull, 
standing  below,  has  drawn  a  bead  on  him  with  his 
gun. 


THE  LONDON  PUNCH 


59 


60  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

"Air  you  in  earnest,  Colonel?"  asks  the 
coon. 

"I  am,"  replies  the  mighty  Bull. 

"Don't  fire,"  says  the  coon,  "I'll  come 
down." 

Even  Lincoln's  proclamation  emancipating  the 
slaves  in  the  seceding  states  did  not  soften  the 
asperity  of  the  old-time  anti-slavery  advocate. 
Punch  feigned  to  see  in  this  message  only  the 
ruse  of  a  wily  combatant  driven  to  a  last  re- 
source. This  idea  is  put  into  a  quatrain,  as  fol- 
lows : 

THE  AMERICAN  CHESS-PLAYERS 

ALTHOUGH  of  conquest  Yankee  North  despairs, 
His  brain  for  some  expedient  wild  he  racks, 

And  thinks  that  having  failed  on  the  white  squares, 
He  can't  do  worse  by  moving  on  the  Blacks. 

Under  the  heading  "One  Good  Turn  Deserves 
Another,"  Old  Abe  is  shown  extending  musket, 
sword  and  knapsack  to  a  negro  who  refuses  to  be 
cajoled  by  his  honeyed  words. 

"WhyIdodeclare,"saysAbe,  "it's  my  dear  old 
friend,  Sambo!  Course  you'll  fight  for  us,  Sambo. 
Lend  us  a  hand,  old  hoss,  do/' 


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61 


PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARL— AuoOBT  23,  18G 


LINCOLN'S    TWO   DIFFICULTIES, 


LIN.  "WHAT'    NO  MONEY!     NO  MEN!" 


62  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

The    same    jibe    finds   vent   in    the    following 
poems : 

^  ABE'S    LAST    CARD;    OR,    ROUGE-ET-NOIR 

BRAG'S    our  game:  and  awful  losers 

We've  been  on  the  Red. 
Under  and  above  the  table, 

Awfully  we've  bled. 
Ne'er  a  stake  have  we  adventured, 

But  we've  lost  it  still, 
From  Bull's  Run  and  mad  Manassas, 

Down  to  Sharpsburg  Hill. 

When  luck's  desperate,  desperate  venture 

Still  may  bring  it  back: 
So  I'll  chance  it — neck  or  nothing — 

Here  I  lead  THE  BLACK! 
If  I  win,  the  South  must  pay  for't, 

Pay  in  fire  and  gore: 
If  I  lose,  I'm  ne'er  a  dollar 

Worse  off  than  before. 

From  the  Slaves  of  Southern  rebels 

Thus  I  strike  the  chain: 
But  the  slaves  of  loyal  owners 

Still  shall  slaves  remain. 
If  their  owners  like  to  wop  'em, 

They  to  wop  are  masters; 
Or  if  they  prefer  to  swop  'em, 

Here  are  our  shin-plasters! 


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64  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

There!     If  that  'ere  Proclamation 
Does  its  holy  work, 

Rebeldom's  annihilation 
It  did  oughter  work: 

Back  to  Union,  and  you're  welcome 
Each  to  wop  his  nigger; 

If  not,  at  White  let  slip  darky- 
Guess  I  call  that  vigour! 

In  September,  1862,  the  two  combatants  are 
represented  as  sinking  exhausted  into  the  arms  of 
negro  backers,  who  are  vainly  attempting  to  put 
them  on  their  feet.  In  the  background  stands  a 
self-important  eagle  arrayed  in  the  Napoleonic 
uniform  and  a  biped  lion  dressed  in  a  sack  coat 
and  an  air  of  conscious  superiority. 

Says  the  eagle  to  the  lion,  "Don't  you  think  we 
ought  to  fetch  the  police?" 

The  legend  under  the  cartoon  runs,  "Not  Up 
to  Time,  or  Interference  Would  Be  Very  Welcome." 

In  the  following  January  comes  a  well  imagined 
cartoon  entitled  "The  Latest  From  Spirit  Land," 
showing  the  bluff  and  kindly  ghost  of  George  III 
trying  to  enter  into  conversation  with  the  stiffly 
stupid  ghost  of  Mr.  Washington.  "Well,  Mr. 
Washington,"  says  George,  "what  do  you  think 


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PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI.— SEPTEMBER  27,  1862. 


THE   OVERDUE   BILL. 

MR.  SOUTU  TO  MR.  NORTH.  "  YOUR  '  NINETY  DAYS '  PROMISSORY  NOTE  ISN'T  TAKEN  UP  YET,  SIRREE ! 


66  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

of  your  fine  republic  now,  eh  ?  What  d'ye  think  ? 
What  d'ye  think,  eh?"  To  which  Mr.  Washing- 
ton retorts  with  an  inarticulate  "Humph!" 

In  May  of  1863  a  cartoon  entitled  "The  Great 
Cannon  Game"  shows  Abe  Lincoln  playing  bil- 
liards with  Jeff  Davis.  It  is  the  latter's  shot. 

"Hurrah  for  Charleston!"  he  cries;  "that's 
another  to  me." 

Abe  Lincoln  mutters  in  an  aside,  "Darned  if  he 
ain't  scored  ag'in!  I  wish  I  could  make  a  few 
winning  hazards  for  a  change." 

An  accompanying  article  entitled  "The  Great 
American  Billiard  Match"  is  amusing  enough 
when  read  to-day  in  the  light  of  the  great  "winning 
hazards"  that  were  to  be  made  by  Abe  within  less 
than  sixty  days. 

"Considerable  excitement,"  it  runs,  "has  been  caused  in 
sporting  circles  by  this  long  protracted  match,  which,  owing 
to  the  style  of  play  adopted  by  the  parties,  appears  to  make 
but  very  little  progress  toward  a  finish.  The  largeness  of 
the  stakes  depending  on  the  contest  might  be  supposed  to 
make  the  players  careful  in  their  strokes,  but  few  expected 
that  the  game  would  last  so  long  as  it  has  done,  and  no  one 
now  dare  prophesy  when  it  will  be  finished.  It  having  been 
resolved  to  play  the  cannon  game,  some  anxiety  at  first  was 


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68  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

not  unreasonably  felt  among  the  backers  of  Jeff  Davis, 
the  crack  player  for  the  South;  but  the  knowing  ones,  who 
knew  their  man,  made  no  attempt  to  hedge,  notwithstanding 
what  was  said  about  his  being  out  of  play  and,  in  the  cannon 
game  especially,  somewhat  overmatched.  It  is  needless  to 
remark  here  that  the  first  strokes  which  he  made  quite 
justified  their  confidence,  and,  indeed,  throughout  the  game 
he  has  done  nothing  yet  to  shake  it,  so  that  if  he  have  but  a 
fair  amount  of  luck,  his  backers  feel  assured  that  he  won't 
easily  be  beaten,  and  an  extra  fluke  or  two  might  make 
him  win  the  match. 

"As  for  old  Abe  Lincoln,  the  champion  player  of  the 
North,  his  backers,  we  believe,  are  as  confident  as  ever  that 
he  is  the  best  man,  although  at  times  his  play  has  not  appeared 
to  prove  it.  There  is  no  doubt  that  he  has  more  strength 
at  his  command,  but  strength  is  of  small  use  without  know- 
ing how  to  use  it.  Abe  Lincoln  may  have  skill,  but  he  has 
not  yet  shown  much  of  it;  and  certainly  he  more  than  once 
has  shown  himself  outgeneralled.  His  backers  say  he  pur- 
posely is  playing  a  slow  game,  just  to  draw  out  his  opponent 
and  see  what  he  can  do.  In  ninety  days,  they  say,  he  is 
cocksure  of  a  victory,  but  this  is  an  old  boast,  and  nobody 
except  themselves  now  places  any  faith  in  it.  Abe's  famous 
Bull  Run  stroke  was  a  bad  start  to  begin  with,  and  his 
Charleston  break  has  ended  in  his  having  to  screw  back, 
and  thus  slip  into  balk  to  save  himself  from  mischief. 

How  the  game  will  end  we  won't  pretend  to  prophesy. 


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•69 


PUNCH,  OR  fBE  LONDON  CHARIVARl.-jAXUiBT  10,  18«5. 


LATEST  FROM   SPIRIT-LAND. 

Gnosio?  Kmo  GEOBGE  III.  "WELL,  MR,  -WASHINGTON^  TVflAT  DO  YOU  THINK  OF  TOUR  FINE  REPUBLIC 
NOW.  EHP-WHiT  D'YE  THINK?  WHAT  D'YE  THINK,  JSII?" 
GHOST  o»  Ma.  WASMNOIOM.    "  iTiIMPH ! " 


70  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

There  are  plenty  of  good  judges,  who  still  appear  inclined 
to  bet  in  favor  of  the  South  and  longish  odds  are  offered 
that  the  game  will  be  a  drawn  one.  Abe's  attempt  to  pot 
the  niggers  some  put  down  as  a  foul  stroke,  but  whether 
foul  or  not,  it  added  little  to  his  score.  Upon  the  whole 
we  think  his  play  has  not  been  much  admired,  although  his 
backers  have  been  vehement  in  superlatively  praising  it. 
There  is  more  sympathy  for  the  South,  as  being  the  weaker 
side — a  fact  which  Jeff's  supporters  indignantly  deny,  and 
which  certainly  the  North  has  not  done  much  as  yet  toward 
proving.  Without  ourselves  inclining  one  way  or  the  other, 
we  may  express  a  neutral  hope  that  the  best  player  may  win ; 
and  we  certainly  shall  echo  the  desire  of  all  who  watch  the 
game  if  we  add  that  the  sooner  it  is  now  played  out  the 
better." 

The  boasted  "neutrality"  was  put  to  a  rather 
severe  test  when,  in  less  than  "ninety  days,"  the 
victory  of  which  Abe's  backers  were  "cock  sure" 
proved  a  double  barrelled  one  at  Vicksburg,  in 
Mississippi,  and  at  Gettysburg,  in  Pennsylvania. 
The  news  of  these  tremendous  events  set  all  the 
Federal  States  of  America  shouting  with  triumph 
on  the  succeeding  Fourth  of  July.  There  were  no 
international  cables  in  those  days.  Consequently 
it  was  not  until  two  weeks  later  tha't  the  news 
reached  England. 


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72  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

In  the  interim,  on  that  very  July  4,  certain 
Northern  Americans  in  London,  all  unconscious  of 
what  had  happened,  celebrated  their  national 
anniversary  almost  in  earshot  of  the  Punch  office 
to  the  great  disgust  of  the  gentlemen  on  its 
staff. 

"There  is  something  peculiarly  graceful,"  [snarls  Punch 
in  the  issue  for  July  18th],  "in  celebrating  Independence 
Day  in  London.  'The  Britishers  whipped  all  the  world 
and  we  whipped  the  Britishers/  used  to  be  the  established 
formula  of  Yankee  self-glorification.  It  is  the  Yankees' 
belief  that  they  accomplished  their  secession  from  England 
by  simple  conquest;  triumphant  superiority  in  arms.  To 
hold  the  anniversary  of  successful  insurrection,  not  to  say 
rebellion,  in  the  very  den  of  the  British  lion,  treading  on 
his  tail  and  gently  poking  him  with  a  playful  boot  tip,  is  to 
compliment  that  noble  animal  with  credit  for  some  mag- 
nanimity. The  British  residents  in  Paris  would  hardly 
have  the  confiding  generosity  and  the  taste  in  like  manner  to 
celebrate  the  return  day  of  the  Battle  of  Waterloo  in  the 
French  capital. 

"We  pause  here  to  ask  whether  the  Confederates  do  not, 
as  they  reasonably  may,  repeat  the  Yankee  boast  above 
quoted  with  brag  additional  ?  Have  they  not  begun  to  say, 
'The  Britishers  whipped  all  the  world,  the  Yankees  whipped 
the  Britishers  and  we  whipped  the  Yankees'?  Not  yet, 


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74  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

perhaps.     Averse   to   indulgence   in   premature   exultation, 
they  may  reserve  that  saying  for  Independence  Day  No.  2." 

In  conclusion  Punch  makes  this  comment  on 
the  fact  that  in  honor  of  the  anniversary  the  flag 
of  the  United  States  had  been  hoisted  on  the  summit 
of  certain  buildings,  "  Shouldn't  it  have  been  hoisted 
half  mast  high?" 

The  answer  came  in  the  form  of  a  thunderous 
negative  with  the  next  mail  from  America. 

Thereafter  Punch  lost  his  supreme  interest  in 
the  great  Civil  War.  He  made  no  allusions  to 
Gettysburg  or  to  Vicksburg.  The  "neutral  hope" 
was  painfully  dampened  by  Northern  triumphs. 
His  commercial  sympathy  was  all  with  the  losing 
side.  The  wish  was  father  to  the  not  very  neutral 
thought  that  the  negro  might  prove  the  undoing 
of  his  Northern  allies.  On  August  15  appeared  a 
cartoon  entitled  "Brutus  and  Caesar,  from  the 
American  Edition  of  Shakespeare."  To  the  tent 
of  Brutus  (Lincoln)  enters  at  night  the  ghost  of 
Caesar,  a  black  spectre.  This  colloquy  occurs:— 

Brutus — Wall,  now,  do  tell  who's  you  ? 
Caesar — I  am  dy  ebil  genius,  massa  Lin- King.  Dis  child 
am  awful  inimpressional. 

In   October   appeared   a   cartoon   headed  with 


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76  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

unconscious  satire,  "John  Bull's  Neutrality." 
John  Bull  standing  with  his  arms  akimbo  in  the 
doorway  of  'his  shop  is  glaring  defiantly  at  two 
bad  boys,  clad  respectively  in  federal  and  in  con- 
federate uniforms,  who  slink  away  before  his 
glance  and  drop  the  stones  they  were  preparing 
to  hurl  at  his  windows. 

"Look  here,  boys,"  says  John,  "I  don't  care 
twopence  for  your  noise,  but  if  you  throw  stones 
at  my  windows  I  must  thrash  you  both." 

The  same  moral  is  enforced  in  the  following 
poem: —  .  x 

MR.  BUUL  TO  HIS  AMERICAN  BULLIES 

Hoy,  I  say  you  two  there,  kicking 

Up  that  row  before  my  shop! 
Do  you  want  a  good  sound  licking 

Both?     If  not,  you'd  better  stop. 
Peg  away  at  one  another, 

If  you  choose  such  fools  to  be: 
But  leave  me  alone;  don't  bother, 

Bullyrag  and  worry  me! 

Into  your  confounded  quarrel! 

Let  myself  be  dragged  I'll  not 
By  you,  fighting  for  a  Merrill 

Tariff;  or  your  slavery  lot. 


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78  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

What  I  want  to  do  with  either 

Is  impartially  to  trade: 
Nonsense  I  will  stand  from  neither 

Past  the  bounds  of  gasconade. 

You  North,  roaring,  raving,  yelling, 

Hold  your  jaw,  you  booby,  do; 
What,  d'ye  threaten  me  for  selling 

Arms  to  South,  as  well  as  you  ? 
South,  at  me  don't  bawl  and  bellow, 

That  won't  make  me  take  your  part; 
So  you  just  be  off,  young  fellow: 

Now,  you  noisy  chap,  too,  start! 

To  be  called  names  'tis  unpleasant; 

Words,  however,  break  no  bones: 
I  control  myself  at  present; 

But  beware  of  throwing  stones! 
I  won't  have  my  windows  broken, 

Mind,  you  brawlers,  what  I  say, 
See  this  stick,  a  striking  token; 

Cut  your  own,  or  civil  stay. 

In  a  succeeding  cartoon  Punch  called  for  a 
separation  between  the  fighters,  for  now,  said  he, 
"dis-union  is  strength."  Another  cartoon  hails 
the  fraternization — reported  to  have  taken  place 
between  negroes  bearing  the  flags  of  the  rival 
armies — with  the  epigram  "When  black  meets 
black  then  comes  the  end  of  war." 


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PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI.— AUGUST  15,  1863. 


BRUTUS    AND    (LESAR. 

(From  the  American  Edition  of  Shakspeare.) 

The  Tent  of  BuuT0s  (LINCOLN).    VigU.    Enter  tit  Ghost  of  OESAR. 

Bruits.  Wall,  now!    Dotell!    Wlw'sjou?  Geiar.  I  am  dy  ebil  genus,  ma 

Bis  child  am  awful  loimpreuionai. 


80  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

Henry  Ward  Beecher's  visit  to  England,  in 
the  autumn  of  1863,  is  celebrated  by  a  cartoon 
and  by  a  poem  in  which  due  praise  is  given  to  the 
vigor  of  his  oratory  and  to  the  excellence  of  his 
intentions. 

BRITISHER  TO  BEECHER 

ALAS!  what  a  pity  it  is,  PARSON  BEECHER, 

That  you  came  not  at  once  when  Secession  broke  out, 
As  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  Apostle,  a  preacher 

Of  the  Union;  a  gospel  which  Englishmen  doubt; 
For  that  Union,  you  see, 
Was  a  limb  of  our  tree: 
Its  own  branches  to  break  themselves  off  are  as  free. 

Still,  BEECHER,  if  you  had  been  only  sent  hither, 
When  at  first  the  Palmetto  flag  flouted  the  sky, 
Commissioned  foul  slavery's  faction  to  wither, 
And  this  nation  invoke  to  be  Freedom's  alty 
With  your  eloquent  art 
You  had  won  England's  heart; 
We  were  fully  disposed  towards  taking  your  part. 

Instead  of  a  Reverend  BEECHER,  appealing 

To  our  conscience,  in  Liberty's  name,  for  the  right, 
We  heard  a  cool  scoundrel  advise  in  the  stealing 

Of  BRITANNIA'S  domains,  North  and  South  to  unite; 
And  your  papers  were  full 
Of  abuse  of  JOHN  BULL; 
Whilst  he  bore  the  blockade  which  withheld  cotton  wool. 


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PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVABL— SEPTEMBER  26,  1863. 


THE  BLACK   CONSCRIPTION. 

'WHEN  BL1CK  MEETS  BLICK  THEN  COltES  THE  ESD(?)  OF  W1B." 


82  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

Malevolence,  taking  our  ill-will  for  granted, 

Has  reviled  us,  pursued  us  with  bluster  and  threat, 
Supposing  itself  the  remembrance  had  planted 

In  our  bosom  of  wrongs  which  we  couldn't  forget, 
And  should  take,  in  its  case 
Of  misfortune,  as  base 
A  revenge  as  itself  would  have  ta'en  in  our  place. 

Tirades  against  England,  with  menace  of  slaughter, 

Never  yet  have  your  SUMNERS,  and  such,  ceased  to  pour. 
Your  bards  talk  of  blowing  us  out  of  the  water, 
And  threaten  to  "punish  JOHN  BULL  at  his  door." 
Now  this  isn't  the  way 
To  make  Englishmen  pray 
That  the  Yankees  may  finish  by  gaining  the  day. 

An  afterthought  only  is  "Justice  to  Niggers;" 

'Tis  a  cry  which  those  Yankees  raised  not  till  they  found 
That  they  for  a  long  time  had  been  pulling  triggers, 

At  their  slaveholding  brothers,  and  gained  little  ground. 
First  ABE  LINCOLN  gave  out 
That  he'd  fain  bring  about, 
The  Re-union  with  slavery  too,  or  without. 

So  don't  waste  your  words  in  attempts  at  persuasion, 

Which  impose  on  no  Britain  alive  but  a  fool, 
But  husband  your  breath  for  another  occasion, 
That  is,  BEECHER,  keep  it  your  porridge  to  cool. 
"Strictly  neutral  will  I 
Still  remain  standing  by." 
Says  BRITANNIA:  "D'ye  see  any  green  in  my  eye?" 


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PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI.— OCTOBER  3,  1863. 


JOHN   BULL'S  NEUTRALITY. 

LOOK  HERE,  EOYS,  I  DON'T  CARE  TWOPENCE  FOR  YOUR  NOISE;   BUT  IF  YOU  THROW  STONES 
AT  MY  WINDOWS,  I  MUST  TBRASB  YOU  BCTU." 


84  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

Later,  Punch  published  this: 

ADIEU  TO  MR.  BEECHER 

MR.  BEECHER  has  left  us;  he  has  sailed  for  America, 
where  he  can  tell  his  congregation  just  what  he  likes,  but 
where  he  will,  we  are  sure,  tell  MESSRS.  LINCOLN  and  SE- 
WARD  the  exact  truth,  namely  that  large  numbers  of  the  un- 
educated classes  crowded  to  hear  a  celebrated  orator,  and 
that  the  press  has  been  very  good-natured  to  him.  Also, 
we  hope  he  will  say,  because  he  knows  it,  that  the  educated 
classes  are  at  the  present  date  just  as  Neutral  in  the  mat- 
ter of  the  American  quarrel  as  they  were  before  the  reverend 
gentleman's  arrival.  Having  duly  stated  these  facts  to  the 
PRESIDENT  and  the  Minister,  MR.  BEECHER  may  put  them 
in  any  form  he  pleases  before  the  delightful  congregation, 
whose  members  pay  £40  a-year,  each,  for  pews.  And  to 
show  that  we  part  with  him  in  all  good  nature,  we  immortal- 
ise his  witty  allusion  to  ourselves  in  his  farewell  speech: — 

"I  know  my  friend  Punch  thinks  I  have  been  serving  out 
*  soothing  syrup'  to  the  British  Lion.  (Laughter.)  Very 
properly  the  picture  represents  me  as  putting  a  spoon  into 
the  lion's  ear  instead  of  his  mouth;  and  I  don't  wonder  that 
the  great  brute  turns  away  very  sternly  from  that  plan  of 
feeding."  (Renewed  Laughter.) 

A  gentler  criticism  upon  us  could  not  be,  and  we  scorn  to 
retort  that,  having  a  respect  for  anatomy,  we  did  not  make 
the  lion's  ear  large  enough  to  hold  the  other  spoon  depicted 


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86  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

in  that  magnificent  engraving.  For  the  REVEREND  BEECHER 
is  not  a  spoon,  whatever  we  may  think  of  his  audiences  in 
England.  And  so  we  wish  him  good-bye,  and  plenty  of 
green-backs  and  green  believers. 

The  re-election  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  in  Novem- 
ber, 1864,  called  forth  a  grotesque  and  unpleasant 
caricature  of  Lincoln  as  the  "Federal  Phoenix." 
It  was  accompanied  by  these  verses: 

THE  FEDERAL  PHOENIX 

WHEN  HERODOTUS,   surnamed   "The  Father  of  History" 
(We  are  not  informed  who  was  History's  mother), 

Went  a  travelling  to  Egypt,  that  region  of  mystery, 
Where  each  step  presented  some  marvel  or  other, 

In  a  great  city  there,  called  (in  Greek)  Heliopolis, 

The  priests  put  him  up  to  a  strange  story — rather—- 
Of a  bird,  who  came  up  to  that  priestly  metropolis, 
Once  in  five  hundred  years,  to  inter  its  own  father. 

When  to  filial  feeling  apparently  callous, 

Not  a  plume  ruffled  (as  we  should  say,  not  a  nair  rent), 
In  a  pot-pourri  made  of  sweet-spice,  myrrh,  and  aloes, 

He  flagrantly,  burnt,  after  burying,  his  parent. 

But  POMPONIUS  MELA  has  managed  to  gather 

Of  this  curious  story  a  modified  version, 
In  which  the  bird  burns  up  itself,  not  its  father, 

And  soars  to  new  life  from  its  fiery  immersion. 


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87 


PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI.— OCTOBER  17,  1863. 


THE    STORM-SIGNAL. 


WE  know  not  whence  the  storm  may  come, 
But  iU  coming's  in  the  air, 


And  tins  is  the  warning  of  the  dram, 
Against  the  storm,  PKEPAUE  ! 


88  <  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

This  bird  has  oft  figured  in  emblems  and  prophecies — 
And  though  SNYDERS  ne'er  painted  its  picture,  nor  WEENIX 

Its  portraits  on  plates  of  a  well-known  fire-office  is, 
Which,  after  this  bird's  name,  is  christened  the  Phoenix. 

Henceforth  a  new  Phcenix,  from  o'er  the  Atlantic, 

Our  old  fire-office  friend  from  his  brass-plate  displaces; 

With  a  plumage  of  greenbacks,  all  ruffled,  and  antic 
In  OLD  ABE'S  rueful  phiz  and  OLD  ABE'S  shambling 
graces. 

As  the  bird  of  Arabia  wrought  resurrection 

By  a  flame  all  whose  virtues  grew  out  of  what  fed  it, 

So   the  Federal  Phoenix  has  earned  re-election 

By  a  holocaust  huge  of  rights,  commerce,  and  credit. 

On  December  10th,  Punch  published  this  brutal 
burlesque  anticipation  of  that  noble  speech  made 
by  President  Lincoln  at  his  second  Inaugura- 
tion, which  has  now  taken  its  due  rank  among 
the  great  masterpieces  of  forensic  English: 

PRESIDENT  LINCOLN'S  INAUGURAL  SPEECH 

(By  Ultramarine  Telegraph} 

WELL,  we've  done  it,  gentlemen.  Bully  for  us.  Cowhided 
the  Copperheads  considerable.  Non  nobis,  of  course,  but 
still*  I  reckon  we  have  had  a  hand  in  the  glory,  some.  That 
reminds  me  of  the  Old  World  story  about  the  Hand  of  Glory, 
which  I  take  to  have  been  the  limb  of  a  gentleman  who  had 


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89 


90  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

been  justified  on  the  gallows,  and  which  the  witches  turned 
into  a  patent  moderator  lamp,  as  would  lead  a  burglar  safe 
into  any  domicile  which  he  might  wish  to  plunder.  We  ain't 
burglars,  quite  t'other,  but  I  fancy  that  if  ULY  GRANT  could 
get  hold  of  that  kind  and  description  of  thing  to  help  him  into 
Richmond,  he'd  not  be  so  un-Christian  proud  as  to  refuse  the 
hand  of  a  malefactor.  (Right,  right!)  Well,  right  or  left 
hand,  that's  no  odds,  gentlemen.  (Laughter.)  Now  I  am 
sovereign  of  the  sovereign  people  of  this  great  and  united 
republic  for  four  years  next  ensuing  the  date  hereof,  as  I 
used  to  say  when  I  was  a  lawyer.  (You  are!  Bully  for  you!) 
Yes,  gentlemen,  but  you  must  do  something  more  than  bully 
for  me,  you  must  fight  for  me,  if  you  please,  and  whether  you 
please  or  not.  As  the  old  joke  says,  there's  no  compulsion, 
only  you  must.  Must  is  for  the  King,  they  say  in  the  rotten 
Old  world.  Well,  I'm  King,  and  you  shall  be  Viceroys  over 
me.  But  I  tell  you  again,  and  in  fact  I  repeat  it,  that  there's 
man's  work  to  do  to  beat  these  rebels.  They  may  run  away, 
no  doubt.  As  the  Irishman  says,  pigs  may  fly,  but  they're 
darned  onlikely  birds  to  do  it.  They  must  be  well  whipped, 
gentlemen,  and  I  must  trouble  you  for  the  whipcord.  (You 
shall  have  it!)  Rebellion  is  a  wicked  thing,  gentlemen,  an 
awful  wicked  thing,  and  the  mere  nomenclating  thereof 
would  make  my  hair  stand  on  end,  if  it  could  be  more  stand- 
onender  than  it  is.  (Laughter.)  Truly  awful,  that  is  when 
it  is  performed  against  mild,  free,  constitutional  sway  like 
that  of  the  White  House,  but  of  course  right  and  glorious 


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91 


92  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

when  perpetrated  against  ferocious,  cruel,  bloodthirsty  old 
tyrants  like  GEORGE  THE  THIRD.  We  must  punish  these 
rebels  for  their  own  good,  and  to  teach  them  the  blessings  of 
this  mighty  and  transcendental  Union.  (We  will,  we  will!}  All 
very  tall  talking,  gentlemen,  but  talking  won't  take  Richmond. 
If  it  would,  and  there  had  been  six  Richmonds  in  the  field, 
we  should  long  since  have  took  them  all.  If  Richmond  would 
fall  like  Jericho,  by  every  man  blowing  of  his  own  trumpet, 
we've  brass  enough  in  our  band  for  that  little  feat  in  acous- 
tics. But  when  a  cow  sticks,  as  GRANT  does,  in  the  mud, 
how  then  ?  (Great  laughter.)  Incontestably,  gentlemen, 
this  great  and  mighty  nation  must  give  her  a  shove  on.  Shove 
for  Richmond,  gentlemen.  (That's  the  talk!)  Now  about 
these  eternal  blacks,  you  expect  me  to  say  something  touch- 
ing them,  though  I  suppose  we're  none  of  us  too  fond  of 
touching  them,  for  reasons  in  that  case  made  and  provided, 
as  I  used  to  say.  Well,  listen.  We've  got  them  on  our 
hands,  that's  a  fact,  and  it  reminds  me  of  a  nigger  story. 
Two  of  these  blacks  met,  and  one  had  a  fine  new  hat. 
"Where  you  got  dat  hat,  SAMBO?"  says  t'other.  "Out  ob 
a  shop,  nigger,"  says  SAMBO.  " 'Spex  so,"  says  t'other,  "and 
what  might  be  the  price  ob  dat  hat?"  "Can't  say,  zactly, 
nigger,  the  shopkeeper  didn't  happen  to  be  on  the  premises." 
(Laughter.)  Well,  we've  got  the  niggers,  and  I  can't  exactly 
say — or  at  least  I  don't  think  you'd  like  to  hear — what  might 
be  the  price  of  those  articles.  But  we  must  utilise  our  hats, 
gentlemen.  We  must  make  them  dig  and  fight,  that's  a  fact 


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94  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

There's  no  shame  in  digging,  I  suppose.  Adam  digged,  and  he 
is  a  gentleman  of  older  line  than  any  of  the  bloated  and  slavish 
aristocracies  of  Europe.  And  as  for  fighting,  they  must  feel 
honoured  at  doing  that  for  the  glorious  old  flag  that  has  braved 
for  eighty-nine  years  and  a-half,  be  the  same  little  more  or 
less,  the  battle  and  the  breeze.  (Cheers.)  Yes,  and  when 
the  rebellion's  put  down,  we'll  see  what's  to  be  done  with 
them.  Perhaps  if  the  naughty  boys  down  South  get  un- 
common contrite  hearts,  we  may  make  them  a  little  present 
of  the  blacks,  not  as  slaves,  of  course,  but  as  legal  appren- 
tices with  undefined  salaries  determinable  on  misconduct. 
(Cheers.)  Meantime,  gentlemen,  I  won't  deny  that  the 
niggers  are  useful  in  the  way  of  moral  support.  They  give 
this  here  war  a  holy  character,  and  we  can  call  it  a  crusade 
for  freedom.  A  man  may  call  his  house  an  island  if  he  likes, 
as  has  been  said  by  one  of  those  fiendish  British  writers  who 
abuse  our  hospitality  by  not  cracking  us  up.  (War  with 
England!)  Well,  all  in  good  time,  gentlemen.  Let  our 
generals  learn  their  business  first.  I  don't  blame  them, 
mind  you,  that  they  haven't  learned  it  yet,  for  when  a  man 
has  kept  a  whiskey-store,  or  a  bar,  or  an  oyster-cellar,  or  an 
old-clothes'  shop  for  years,  he  can't  be  expected,  merely 
because  he  puts  on  a  uniform,  to  become  a  Hannibal  or  a 
Napoleon,  or  even  a  Marlborough  or  a  Wellington.  Like- 
wise, they  must  learn  to  keep  reasonable  sober.  Friends  at 
a  distance  will  please  accept  this  intimation.  (Roars  of 
Laughter.)  When  that's  done,  and  the  rebels  are  whipped, 


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95 


96  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

and  we  are  in  want  of  more  fighting,  we'll  see  whether  Rich- 
mond in  England,  where  the  QUEEN'S  palace  of  Windsor 
Castle  is  situate  lying  and  being,  is  a  harder  nut  to  crack  than 
Richmond  nearer  us.  (Cheers.)  Gentlemen,  one  thing 
more.  Did  you  ever  hear  the  story  of  the  farmer  who  had 
been  insulted  by  an  exciseman?  "He  wur  so  rude,"  said 
the  farmer,  "that  I  wur  obliged  to  remonstrate  with  him." 
"And  to  what  effect  did  you  remonstrate?"  asked  a  friend. 
"Well  I  don't  know  about  effect,  but  I  bent  the  poker  so  that 
I  was  obliged  to  get  a  hammer  to  straighten  it."  Gentlemen, 
we  must  straighten  this  glorious  Union,  and  the  hammer  is 
taxes.  (Laughter.)  You  may  laugh,  but  you  must  pay. 
I  don't  mean  to  be  hard  upon  this  mighty  nation,  and  our 
friend  MR.  COBDEN  (cheers)  has  already  indirectly  informed 
the  besotted  masses  of  British  slaves  that  we  intend  to  re- 
pudiate our  greenbacks,  except  to  the  amount  they  may  be 
worth  in  the  market  when  redeemed.  But  the  poker  wants 
a  deal  of  hammering,  nevertheless,  and  you  must  pay  up. 
You'll  hear  more  about  this  from  a  friend  of  mine  in  the 
Government,  so  I  only  give  you  the  hint,  as  the  man  said 
when  he  kicked  his  uncle  down-stairs.  (Laughter.)  I 
believe  that's  about  all  I  had  to  say,  and  this  almighty  Union 
will  be  conserved  to  shine  through  the  countless  ages  an 
ineffable  beacon  and  symbol  of  blessed  and  everlasting  light 
and  glory  if  you  will  only  mind  the  proverb  of  Sancho  Panza, 
which  says,  "Pray  to  God  devoutly,  and  hammer  on  stoutly." 
(Laughter,  cheers,  and  cries  of  "Bully  for  youJ") 


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97 


PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI— AUGUST  20,  1864. 


SOMETHING  FOE  PADDY. 

O'CoxNm's  STAITO  (LOQ.).  "IT'S  A  REPAIER  YE  CALL  YOURSELF,  YE  SPALPEEN,  AXD  YOU  'RE  COIN'  TO 
DIE  TOR  THE  UNION?' 


96  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

On  April  15,  1865,  came  a  cartoon,  a  really 
superb  one,  which  is  sometimes  reckoned  Tenniel's 
masterpiece,  entitled  "Habet!"  It  represents  the 
combatants  as  gladiators  before  the  enthroned  and 
imperial  negroes  ("Ave  Caesar!"). 

But  in  sentiment  at  least  a  nobler  was  to  come, 
the  affecting  picture  of  Britannia's  tribute  and 
Punch's  amende,  called  simply  "Abraham  Lin- 
coln, foully  assassinated  April  14,  1865." 

The  accompanying  verses,  by  Tom  Taylor,  not, 
as  has  sometimes  been  asserted,  by  Shirley 
Brooks,  were  a  complete  recantation  for  former 
misunderstanding  and  wrongdoing.  They  will 
bear  quoting  again:— 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Foully  Assassinated  April,  14,  1865 

You  lay  a  wreath  on  murdered  Lincoln's  bier, 
\/         You,  who  with  mocking  pencil  wont  to  trace 
Broad  for  the  self-complacent  British  sneer 

His  length  of  shambling  limb*  his  furrowed  face, 

His  gaunt,  gnarled  hands,  his  unkempt,  bristling  hair, 

His  garb  uncouth,  his  bearing  ill  at  ease; 
His  lack  of  all  we  prize  as  debonair, 

Of  power  or  will  to  shine,  of  art  to  please. 


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99 


PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI.— AUGUST  27,  1864. 


AMERICA 
ANOTHER  FEDERAL 
DEFEAT 


VERY   PROBABLE. 

Low*  PtwcH.  "THAT  WAS  JEFF  DAVIS,  PAM!     DON'T  YOU  RECOGNISE  HIM?" 

LOUD  PAH.  «HM!     WELL,   NOT  EXACTLY MAY  HAVE  TO   DO    SO   SOME  OP  THESE  DAYS.1 


100  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

You,  whose  smart  pen  backed  up  the  pencil's  laugh, 
Judging  each  step,  as  though  the  way  were  plain ; 

Reckless,  so  it  could  point  its  paragraph 
Of  chief's  perplexity  or  people's  pain. 

Beside  this  corps,  that  beats  for  winding  sheet 
The  Stars  and  Stripes  he  lived  to  rear  anew, 

Between  the  mourners  at  his  head  and  feet, 
Say,  scurril-jester,  is  there  room  for  you  ? 

Yes,  he  had  lived  to  shame  me  from  my  sneer, 
To  lame  my  pencil,  and  confute  my  pen — 

To  make  me  own  this  hind  of  princes  peer, 
This  rail-splitter  a  true-born  king  of  men. 


My  shallow  judgment  I  had  learnt  to  rue, 

Noting  how  to  occasion's  height  he  rose, 
How  his  quaint  wit  made  home-truth  seem  more  true, 

How,  iron-like,  his  temper  grew  by  blows. 

How  humble  yet  how  hopeful  he  could  be; 

How  in  good  fortune  and  in  ill  the  same; 
Nor  bitter  in  success,  nor  boastful  he, 

Thirsty  for  gold,  nor  feverish  for  fame. 

He  went  about  his  work — such  work  as  few 
Ever  had  laid  on  head  and  heart  and  hand — 

As  one  who  knows  where  there's  a  task  to  do 

Man's    honest    will    must    heaven's    good    grace     com- 
mand: 


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101 


102 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 


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103 


104  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

Who  trusts  the  strength  will  with  the  burden  grow, 
That  God  makes  instruments  to  work  his  will, 

If  but  that  will  we  can  arrive  to  know, 

Nor  tamper  with  the  weights  of  good  and  ill. 

So  he  went  forth  to  battle  on  the  side 

That  he  felt  clear  was  liberty's  and  right's, 

As  in  his  peasant  boyhood  he  had  plied 

His  warfare  with  rude  nature's  thwarting  mights — 

The  uncleared  forest,  the  unbroken  soil, 

The  iron  back,  that  turns  the  lumberer's  axe; 

The  rapid,  that  o'erbears  the  boatman's  toil, 

The  prairie,  hiding  the  mazed  wanderer's  tracks, 

The  ambushed  Indian,  and  the  prowling  bear — 
Such  were  the  needs  that  helped  his  youth  to  train 

Rough  culture — but  such  trees  large  fruit  may  bear 
If  but  their  stocks  be  of  right  girth  and  grain. 

So  he  grew  up,  a  destined  work  to  do, 

And  lived  to  do  it;  four  long-suffering  years' 

Ill-fate,  ill-feeling,  ill-report  lived  through, 

And  then  he  heard  the  hisses  change  to  cheers, 

The  taunts  to  tribute,  the  abuse  to  praise, 

And  took  both  with  the  same  unwavering  mood: 

Till,  as  he  came  on  light  from  darkling  days 

And  seemed  to  touch  the  goal  from  where  he  stood, 

A  felon  hand,  between  the  goal  and  him, 

Reached  from  behind  his  back,  a  trigger  prest — 


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105 


FUSfCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI.— DECEMBER  3,  1864. 


THE  FEDERAL  PHCENIX. 


106 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 


PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI.— DICMBTO  31,  1864. 


GRMD  TRANSFORMATION  SCENE  FOR  THE  END  OF  THE  YEAR  1864. 


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107 


PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI.— FEBRUARY  18,  1865., 


THE  THREATENING  NOTICE. 

ATTORNEY  LINCOLN.  "NOW  'JNCLE  SAM,  YOU'RE  IN  A  DABNED  HUREY  TO  SERVE  THIS  HERE  NOTICE 
ON  JOHN  BULL.  NOW,  IT'S  MY  DUTY.  AS  YOUR  ATTORNEY,  TO  TELL  YOU  THAT  YOU  MAY  DRIVE  HIM 
TO  GO.PVER  TO  THAT  CUSS,  DAVIS "  (UncU  Sam  Comtden.) 


108  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 

And  those  perplexed  and  patient  eyes  were  dim, 
Those  gaunt,  long-laboring  limbs  were  laid  to  rest. 

The  words  of  mercy  were  upon  his  lips, 

Forgiveness  in  his  heart  and  on  his  pen, 
When  this  vile  murderer  brought  swift  eclipse 

To  thoughts  of  peace  on  earth,  good  will  to  men. 

The  Old  World  and  the  New,  from  sea  to  sea, 

Utter  one  voice  of  sympathy  and  shame! 
Sore  heart,  so  stopped  when  it  at  last  beat  high, 

Sad  life,  cut  short  just  as  its  triumph  came. 

A  deed  accurst!     Strokes  have  been  struck  before 
By  the  assassin's  hand,  whereof  men  doubt 

If  more  of  horror  or  disgrace  they  bore; 

But  thy  foul  crime,  like  Cain's,  stands  darkly  out. 

Vile  hand,  that  brandest  murder  on  a  strife, 

Whate'er  its  grounds,  stoutly  and  nobly  striven; 
V  And  with  the  martyr's  crown  crownest  a  life 
With  much  to  praise,  little  to  be  forgiven! 

From  that  time  forward  Punch  took  seriously 
to  heart  the  lesson  he  had  taught  himself,  and  his 
relations  with  Brother  Jonathan  were  thereafter 
of  a  very  different  and  a  far  more  cordial  kind. 

That  these  verses  made  a  profound  impression 
in  the  United  States  is  undoubted.  It  has  even 
been  opined  that  they  were  largely  instrumental 


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109 


110 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 


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111 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 


PUNCH,  OR  THE  LONDON  CHARIVARI.— MAY  3,  1862. 


PEACE. 

JltB,  PUNCH'S 'DESIGN  JOB,  A.  COLOSSAL -STATUE,  WHICH  OUGHT  TO  HAVE  'BEEN   PLACED  IN  THE 
INTERNATIONAL  EXHIBITION, 


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in  preventing  an  imminent  war  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States. 

Perhaps  the  effect  would  have  been  less  if  we 
on  this  side  had  known  how  grudgingly  the  amende 
was  offered.  Mr.  A.  H.  Layard  in  his  recent 
"Life  of  Shirley  Brooks"  has  invited  us  to  take 
a  peep  behind  the  Punch  curtain.  He  shows 
that  the  editorial  staff  of  the  paper  was  divided 
in  the  matter,  Shirley  Brooks  leading  the  opposi- 
tion against  the  publication  of  the  poem,  In  Brooks' 
diary  Mr.  Layard  discovered  the  following  entry: — 

"Dined  Punch.  All  there.  Let  out  my  views 
against  some  verses  on  Lincoln  in  which  T.  T. 
(Tom  Taylor)  had  not  only  made  P.  eat  humble 
pie,  but  swallow  dish  and  all/' 


\ 


